Skinny Vegan Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins

Do you reach for fattier foods when you want a treat, or higher-carb items liked baked goods? I’m carbs all the way, whether it be banana, sliced apple, homemade cookies, sprouted grain toast or these skinny vegan chocolate chip zucchini muffins!

With my nutrition and performance goals, I really don’t have a ton of carbs to eat right now, so I have to make sure the treats I do eat are worth it. These muffins have been worth it, oh yaaaa. Plus they’re low in fat and have some protein in them too.

Xylitol as a Sugar Alternative

To reduce the amount of carbs and calories in these muffins, I used xylitol, a sugar alternative I just recently added to my kitchen. Honestly, the name had always kinda freaked me out! Have you guys used it much? So far, so good on my end!

Xylitol is a naturally occurring carbohydrate that looks and taste like table sugar.

The natural sweetener that can be extracted from any woody fibrous plant material, commercially it is extracted from renewable resources such as corn cobs. Because it has a slower absorption into the digestive tract than sugar does, it comes in at about 1/3 the calories of sugar making it a good way to reduce the amount of calories and carbohydrates in baking and other applications.

Zucchini Everything

K, so I’m totally obsessed with zucchini. I’ve been putting in absolutely in everything. Overnight oats, muffins, cookies and of course, eating big bowls of zoodles a few times a week! I also love it raw with hummus or another healthy dip or roasted in the oven with lots of spices.

What’s the deal? Well, zucchini is the perfect high volume food for flexible dieters, meaning you can enjoy a large, filling serving for very low macros.

While you wait for that, add flour, protein powder, baking soda, salt, xylitol and chocolate chips to a mixing bowl and stir to combine.

Shake the zucchini to remove any water, then place in a dish towel or paper cloth and squeeze to remove as much of the excess water as you can. This step is very important, do not skip!

Add grated zucchini, applesauce, melted coconut oil and vinegar to the dry ingredients. Stir to combine. The dough will be very thick, it takes a few minutes to mix everything together. Do not over mix, if it’s a little chunky that’s ok.

Spray a muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray or prepare with paper or silicone muffin liners.

Spoon the dough into 12 muffin tins.

Bake for 23 minutes.

Let cool in the tray.

These can be store at room temperature or in the fridge. I love the texture when refrigerated!

Notes

I use Vega Performance Protein wherever I use plant-based protein in recipes. You can buy it here on Amazon. I have not tested this recipe with any other proteins so can’t guarantee results with whey.

As far as the oil in these, I think it’s a low as you can go. I tried them with no oil and just applesauce and they didn’t turn out I’d recommend keeping the 2 tbsp of coconut oil in there.

I would highly recommend purchasing a digital food scale to use in your kitchen, if you don’t have one already. Volume measurements can vary greatly and your safest best is to go by weight. Buy one here for around $10.